1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure generally relates to small cells within a cellular network and particularly to placement of small cells within a cellular network, wherein the small cell is typically a femtocell.
2. Related Art
As data consumption increases, mobile operators have looked to various solutions to offload at least a portion of internet data traffic from the cellular network. In one such solution, operators use small cells to extend their service coverage and increase network capacity and reducing the load on the larger cells. The use of a small cell to aggregate the data (but also calls) provides for a more effective use of the bandwidth available to the larger cells and accounts for better overall quality of service (QoS).
Small cells can be used to provide in-building and outdoor cellular service within a confined location. Mobile operators can use such small cells to offload traffic as much as eighty percent during peak times, in congested areas. Small cells typically have a limited range of coverage, which can be from ten meters within urban locations to two kilometers for a rural location. By contrast, a typically the range of a standard base station is up to thirty-five (35) kilometers. A microcell is typically less than two (2) kilometers wide, a picocell is two-hundred (200) meters or less, and a femtocell is on the order of ten (10) meters.
It would therefore be advantageous for a mobile operator to be able to place small cells in an efficient manner, thus reducing infrastructure costs.